Spirally sliced hams have proven to be popular with consumers, largely because of the convenience of being able to easily remove the presliced ham pieces from the product at the point of use. The ham is produced by slicing it in a manner to form a continuous spiral cut around the center, often with the femur remaining in place but sometimes without a bone. In a "bone in" product, the meat remains continuously attached to the bone all the way around in a spiral pattern adjacent to the spiral cut. Thus, the meat remains connected to the bone firmly enough that the product can be handled and packaged intact without pieces falling off, folding over, or otherwise deforming. At the same time, the slices can be easily detached from the bone at the point of use.
It has been recognized that many consumers are hesitant to purchase an entire ham because there is more meat than the household of the purchaser can conveniently consume. As a result, spirally sliced hams are commonly sold at retail in half portions. The full ham is cut transversely through the femur in order to cut the product into a butt half and a shank half. The half that is adjacent to the butt end includes part of the femur and the aitch bone, while the half at the shank end of the product includes the rest of the femur and the shank bone. Both halves are commercially appealing in that only the ends of the femur are visible and the product is not unsightly. Also, the meat remains attached to the bone continuously completely around it, so slices are not prone to falling off or becoming deformed during subsequent handling and packaging.
Although spirally sliced ham products of this type have been well received, the amount of meat they contain is still excessive for smaller households and smaller occasions where the product is consumed by only a relatively small number of people. Consequently, there is the need to cut spirally sliced hams into smaller products in order to allow consumers the option of purchasing a smaller amount of meat. However, cutting the ham into smaller products presents significant problems which have not been overcome and such smaller spirally sliced ham products have not been commercially available.